Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris’ selection of Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz as her running mate Tuesday bolsters her party’s strategy of maintaining a Midwestern “Blue Wall” while at the same time seeking to recapture rural voters who have increasingly shifted Republican under Donald Trump.
Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker was a finalist for the running mate slot and is now left to ponder his political future while returning to his regular duties, which on Tuesday included signing a progressive post-incarceration state ID bill into law.
Speaking to reporters at the bill signing, the second-term Democrat acknowledged he’d been through a “grueling” vetting process for the No. 2 job in the just over two weeks since President Joe Biden dropped his reelection bid and backed Harris, his vice president, as his successor .
“I was glad that I made it through that process, made it to the final number of candidates,” Pritzker said, calling it “an honor” to get to that stage of Harris’ selection process and emphasizing that the Harris-Walz ticket has his support “1,000%.”
“I want to be clear with everybody. You know you often hear me say, ‘I love being the governor of Illinois.’ I really do love being the governor of Illinois, and so I was very torn during this process about being a participant in it,” he said. “I come to work every day knowing that we can make a difference and that we have over the last five and a half years, so I continue to come to work with a great deal of joy and not sorry at all about the fact that we have a terrific Midwestern governor in Tim Walz that’s been chosen.”
Walz and Pritzker were both elected governor in 2018, but while Pritzker has enjoyed strong Democratic legislative majorities throughout his tenure, the Minnesota governor faced a partisan split during his first term. Since Democrats took control of the Minnesota legislature in 2022, Walz has been able to advance a progressive agenda on abortion and voting rights, universal school lunches, infrastructure improvements and clean energy.
“He has, in every way, demonstrated that he is trustworthy and a person of integrity, and that’s a heck of a lot more than you can say for the vice presidential choice that Donald Trump made,” Pritzker said referring to the Republican presidential candidate’s chosen running mate, Ohio Sen. JD Vance.
There’s an old saying that “timing is everything in politics and show business” and the surprise decision by Biden to drop out of the race jump-started Democrats heading into their national political convention in Chicago, while also stoking Pritzker’s political aspirations.
Pritzker had already sought to increase his national footprint as a White House campaign surrogate and through his abortion rights organization, Think Big America.
In making the short list but failing to win the vice presidential sweepstakes, Pritzker was faced with being content to live with another old political saw, “Better to be looked over, than overlooked.” His fellow finalists included Govs. Josh Shapiro of Pennsylvania, Andy Beshear of Kentucky and Wes Moore of Maryland, Arizona Sen. Mark Kelly and Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg.
But it also scrambles the calendar for Pritzker’s White House aspirations. A successful two-term presidency by Harris, 59, would make Walz a favored Democratic successor in 2032. Pritzker would be 67 and Walz would be 68 in that election.
A Trump victory in November could still leave Walz a party favorite in an open-seat presidential contest in 2028, though the race would be competitive.
Pritzker also faces a decision on whether to seek a third term for governor in 2026, knowing that presidential candidates who are officeholders enjoy greater gravitas on the political stage.
Pritzker said on Tuesday that he has not had any discussions about his electoral future after coming up short in the VP selection process.
A seat on the Harris Cabinet, if the Democratic ticket is successful, is “not something I’ve contemplated,” he said. His sister, Penny, served as commerce secretary in the Obama White House.
Asked about seeking to head the Democratic Governors Association, which Walz has chaired, Pritzker demurred, saying it takes “an enormous amount of time.”
“I really do love the job that I have, and remember that we’ve made a lot of improvements. We have a lot of work to do still for the state of Illinois, but we have made a lot of improvements,” he said. “Every day, I try to think about what’s the next thing, what’s on the list now that we can do to make people’s lives better.”
Former Illinois House Republican leader Jim Durkin, who at times sparred publicly with Pritzker and at other times worked closely with him on bipartisan legislation, including a historic capital construction program, said it was no surprise to see the governor among the finalists to join Harris on the Democratic ticket.
At the same time, “it was a long shot,” Durkin said, given Illinois is “as blue as it gets,” meaning Pritzker would be unlikely to substantially add to Harris’ vote total.
Still, “Gov. Pritzker has positioned himself to be … a formidable candidate down the road. He still is young by Washington standards,” Durkin said.
“And I’ll take the partisan issues, put them to the side — he’s been able to deliver on his agenda, on a Democrat agenda, almost a hundred percent since he’s been in, so his record is very strong with Democrat primary voters.”
But Dennis Goldford, professor emeritus of political science at Drake University in Des Moines, Iowa, and a frequent presidential commentator, said that if Pritzker’s “got presidential ambitions, he’s got a long road ahead of him to do anything in that regard” due to Harris’ choice of Walz.
From his perch in a state bordering both Illinois and Minnesota, Goldford said Pritzker and his progressive agenda had a “home field advantage” due to Democrats’ long-standing control of the Illinois General Assembly while Walz had to initially work with legislative Republicans in his first term.
In the end, Goldford said, voters make their decision on the White House by looking at the presidential candidate, not the running mate. But he acknowledged that in a close contest, any number of things can make a difference and Walz could help Democrats in the “Blue Wall” swing states of Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania that are viewed as crucial for keeping the White House.
“He’s a balance for her,” Goldford said, referring to Harris’ California political upbringing. “Republicans will still paint him as radical as hell, right? So we know that. But to the extent that people pay attention, they’ll notice he comes from a very different background of political experience from hers. So I think that’s the balancing aspect to the extent that that matters.”
Born in rural Nebraska, Walz is a former high school social studies teacher and football coach who spent 24 years in the Army National Guard, retiring in 2005 as a sergeant major.
While there’s a comfort factor in selecting a running mate, Harris had also expressed interest in someone who had a strong government background. Walz served six terms in Congress, representing a largely rural southern Minnesota district, before being elected governor.
Walz came up with the description of “weird” to describe the Republican presidential ticket, an adjective Harris and her team quickly adopted. But, as Goldford predicted, Republicans in Illinois and nationally were quick to label Walz as “another radical leftist.”
Vance, who has had a rocky start since his debut as Trump’s running mate on July 15, on Tuesday issued a fundraising statement to supporters headlined simply, “I will wipe the floor with Tim Walz.”
Democratic National Committee officials announced that both Harris and Walz were officially certified by the party Tuesday as the Democratic nominated White House ticket in advance of the party’s national convention in Chicago, which begins Aug. 19. A ceremonial roll call of the states is planned for the event.
Tribune reporter Dan Petrella contributed.
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